Too many lawyers spoil the take

Most lawyers would be unfamiliar with clients reacting joyously at the minimal size of their legal bill, but one firm in Massachusetts has managed to earn the ire of not just a client but also…

Lawyers Weekly • 02 February 2010 • SME Law

Most lawyers would be unfamiliar with clients reacting joyously at the minimal size of their legal bill, but one firm in Massachusetts has managed to earn the ire of not just a client but also its local supreme court.

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A family in Massachusetts, reports abovethelaw.com, objected to the plethora of legal talent that had been at work on their probate estate case when the bill was presented to them by law firm K&L Gates. They had been charged legal fees of $US800,000 ($896,585) to settle a probate estate of $US1.2 billion - a fee the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled was for a lot of "unnecessary lawyering".

The Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Docket reported: In a ruling in the Matter of the Estate of Bartley J. King ... Justice Margot Botsford wrote for a unanimous court that "a total of eighteen attorneys and paralegals were representing [the client], a remarkable number especially when one takes into account the motion judge's view that the theories advanced by the contestants were not 'overly complex'."

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Folklaw figures the judge interpreted it as a case of overkill rather than overskill.

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